CONNECTICUT. 



231 



049.47. Appropriations were made by the 

 General Assembly in 1883 and 1884 toward 

 satisfying deficiencies which had resulted to 

 the fund from depreciation in real estate ac- 

 quired by the foreclosure of old mortgages. 



The Normal School is improving. Its num- 

 ber of pupils on Nov. 30, 1884, was 164. The 

 common schools throughout the State are mak- 

 ing satisfactory progress. A few of them, 

 however, from special causes, are deteriorating. 

 State Prison. The last General Assembly ap- 

 pointed " a commission to take into considera- 

 tion and examine all matters relating to the 

 building of a new State Prison, or to provide 

 for an enlargement or improvement " of the 

 present one. The commissioners recommend 

 the State to retain the land now occupied at 

 Wethersfield, to acquire a small piece of ground 

 adjacent thereto, and to build a new prison on 

 the tract of land thus enlarged. 



Hospital for the Insane. The number of pa- 

 tients in the Connecticut Hospital for the In- 

 sane on Nov. 30, 1883, was 860. During the 

 year, by the admission of 243 new patients, 

 the whole number under treatment was 1,103, 

 of whom 180 were discharged, leaving, on 

 Nov. 30, 1884, 923. Although the hospital 

 has been greatly and even dangerously over- 

 crowded, the death-rate has been lower than 

 in former years, and below the average rate 

 in similar institutions elsewhere. The regular 

 revenue has been made sufficient to meet all 

 ordinary expenses, including repairs and im- 

 provements. Under authority given by the 

 General Assembly at its last session, the hos- 

 pital is now in process of enlargement by the 

 construction of an addition that will accom- 

 modate 150 patients, and will probably fur- 

 nish, with the accommodations already exist- 

 ing, ample room for all female patients for 

 many years. The new building is expected to 

 be ready for use in April, 1885, and its cost 

 will not exceed the $75.000 appropriated. Ad- 

 ditional provision for the accommodation of 

 male patients is considered necessary. 



Railroads. The number of railroad compa- 

 nies in the State is twenty-five, of which four- 

 teen have roads in operation. The total 

 amount of capital stock issued by all the com- 

 panies is $57,935,077, of which amount stock- 

 holders residing in Connecticut hold $17,438,- 

 950. The length of completed roads in the 

 State is 973 miles, the length of double tracks 

 174 miles, and the length of siding 248 miles, 

 making the total of single-track miles 1,395. 



The number of passengers carried during the 

 last year was 16,957,574, of whom only one 

 was fatally injured. The total number of 

 casualties of all sorts was considerably less 

 than during the year preceding. The com- 

 missioners represent that the roads are well 

 managed and in good condition. 



Sayings-Banks. The amount of deposits in 

 the 84 savings-banks of the State on the 1st 

 of October, 1884, was $90,614,622.89, being an 

 increase of $2,516,239.12 during the year end- 



ing on that day. The number of depositors 

 was then 252,245, being an increase of 5,593 

 during the year. The amount of indorsed 

 paper held by these banks was $3,802,075.50. 

 It is a fact of favorable significance that there 

 has been in this class of investments a diminu- 

 tion during the year to the extent of $228,- 

 691.29. The amount invested in bank-stocks 

 was $6,225,960. The banks are represented 

 to be sound and safe. The commissioners, 

 however, still entertain the opinion, which 

 they have repeatedly expressed to the General 

 Assembly, that such banks ought to be pro- 

 hibited from investing any of their funds in 

 notes not secured by mortgage or other safe 

 collateral security ; and that they ought not 

 to be permitted in future to purchase stock of 

 national banks, especially of national banks 

 located outside of the State. 



Insurance. There are ten stock fire-insurance 

 companies in the State. On Jan. 1, 1884, their 

 paid-up capital was $10,801,500 ; their gross 

 assets amounted to $24,270,545 ; and their sur- 

 plus above all liabilities was $6,676,523. There 

 are also seventeen mutual fire-insurance compa- 

 nies, whose assets on the same date amounted 

 to $1,151,685, and whose surplus above all lia- 

 bilities was then $854,731. There are nine life- 

 insurance companies, whose gross assets on that 

 date amounted to $109,059,621, and whose lia- 

 bilities (except capital) were $96,147,577. 



Statue of Buckingham. On the 18th of June 

 a beautiful memorial of Connecticut's "war 

 Governor," William A. Buckingham, was un- 

 veiled in Hartford. It is a massive bronze 

 statue, representing the Governor seated, is 

 placed on a pedestal of polished granite, and 

 stands in the vestibule of the new State-House. 

 Five thousand veterans of those sent by Con- 

 necticut to the national armies during the civil 

 war took part in the ceremonies, and around 

 the vestibule were ranged the tattered battle- 

 . flags that Buckingham had intrusted to them 

 on their departure and received again on their 

 return. The sculptor is Olin L. Warner, of New 

 York, a native of Connecticut. The orator of 

 the occasion was U. S. Senator 0. H. Platt. 



Governor Buckingham was born in Leba- 

 non, Conn., May 28, 1804, and died in Nor- 

 wich, Feb. 3, 1875. He was at first a farmer, 

 but afterward was a merchant and manufact- 

 urer. He was Mayor of Norwich in 1849, 

 1850, 1856, and 1857. He became Governor 

 of the State in 1858, and was re-elected seven 

 times, when (1866) he refused another renomi- 

 nation. In 1868 he was elected to the United 

 States Senate. His fame rests chiefly on his 

 conduct during the war, when he showed un- 

 tiring energy and skill in sustaining the na- 

 tional Government in its struggle for exist- 

 ence ; not only filling the quota of the State 

 in the call for troops, but by personal sacrifice 

 and the highest character bringing a strong 

 moral support to the cause of his country, so 

 that he won the admiration even of his politi- 

 cal opponents. 



